Today in History - History - April 17th

1953Mickey Mantle hits a 565' (172 m) HR in Wash DC's Griffith Stadium

1983Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter

1961Jimmy Stewart accepts an honorary Oscar on behalf of his friend Gary Cooper, who is too ill to attend

1925NY Yankee Babe Ruth has ulcer surgery

1492Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find Indies

1997NJ Devil Martin Brodeur is 2nd NHL goalie to score in a playoff game

1939Joe Louis KOs Jack Roper in 1 for heavyweight boxing title

1947Jackie Robinson bunts for his 1st major league hit

1970Paul McCartney's 1st solo album "McCartney" is released

196133rd Academy Awards - "Apartment" wins best film, Burt Lancaster & Elizabeth Taylor win best actor/actress

1974Victoria Beckham [Adams], Harlow, Essex, English singer (Posh Spice-Spice Girls)

1923Harry Reasoner, Dakota City Iowa, newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS)

1620Marguerite Bourgeoys, Troyes France, founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame (first Canadian saint)

1972Jennifer Garner [Affleck], Houston, Texas. American actress (Sydney Bristow-Alias)

1943Actress Claire Trevor (34) weds Navy lieutenant Cyclos William Dunsmoore in Tijuana, Mexico

2009World's no. 1 professional tennis player Andy Roddick (29) weds fashion model and actress Brooklyn Decker (25) in Austin, Texas

1892Alexander Mackenzie, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada, dies of a stroke at 70

2014Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist (1982 Nobel Prize in Literature), dies of pneumonia at 87